164 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
from the train, for it is about half a mile wide and probably 1,000 
feet deep, but what must it look like when viewed from its rim! 
Ouray Peak is supposed by some to be an extinct volcano, probably 
because of the resemblance of this cirque to the crater of a volcano. 
One of the best places from which to see this cirque is Grays siding, 
at an elevation of about 9,673 feet. Here the locomotive may take 
water, and the traveler may have an opportunity to step from the 
train and obtain a view of the mountain and the surrounding 
features. 
A short distance above Grays siding extensive views appear on 
the left at many places. The chief points of interest are the peaks 
of the great Sangre de Cristo Range, and at their base the upper 
end of San Luis Park. Farther up the railroad the slopes on the left 
are very steep and are covered with a mantle of trees. The trees 
are not very large or very thick, but they conceal and soften rocky 
slopes that would otherwise be bare. Here the traveler may see the 
blue spruce for which Colorado is noted. Only the young growth 
has the characteristic bluish-green color, but when the cones have 
reached their full growth the tree is one of the most beautiful in 
the forest. In midsummer these slopes form a sea of green; but if 
the traveler should cross the pass after the middle of September he 
will see the aspens in a golden blaze, and even in the thick forest 
he may see specks of yellow as brilliant as any of the “colors” in 
the prospector’s pan in the early days when he struck “ pay dirt.” 
Beyond milepost 239 the railroad runs along the side of a bouldery 
ridge at the foot of the bare cone of Ouray Peak. The traveler is at 
first so far below the summit of this ridge that he probably does not 
realize that it is a moraine which was evidently formed by one of the 
last glaciers that existed on the south slope of the mountain, but 
when he is a little nearer the summit of the mountain he will be able 
to see the small cirque which this glacier excavated, though he will 
notice that it is not nearly so large as the cirque which he saw from 
Grays siding. The reasons for the difference are that the glacier 
which lay on the east side was in the lee of the mountain and received 
more snow than the other one, which was exposed to the strong west 
wind, and that the snow which fell upon the glacier that faced the 
east was not readily melted, whereas the other glacier, which faced 
the south, must have received the full warmth of the sun’s rays. AS 
the glacier on the east side was thus favored in the accumulation of 
snow and in the slight melting of the ice it grew apace, whereas the 
one on the south side was always small and doubtless soon dwindled 
away. 
